About Varun Goel
Founder, CEO at Todayq
Started with ₹300 pocket money and 6 months of bedrest at 16. Built a quotes website that got deleted. Rebuilt it for crypto traders. Dropped out of school when it hit ₹10,00,000 revenue. Now 24, running Todayq ecosystem - fixing Web3's broken infrastructure. This isn't inspiration porn. Just what happened.
THE BEGINNING
Age 12: Counter-Strike addict. Built random electronics at home - toy cars, hand fans, anything with wires & motors.
The internet was my playground for exploring.
2017: THE ACCIDENT THAT LAUNCHED EVERYTHING
May 2017. Age 16. Just started 11th grade. Major accident - doctor said 4-6 months bedrest. Couldn't walk. Stuck at home in bed. Two weeks in, bored out of my mind, grabbed my laptop.
Started an Instagram page sharing motivational quotes. Why? I was stuck in bed, needed motivation myself. Then thought: "Why just share quotes when I can monetize this?"
THE ₹300 STARTUP
Saved my pocket money for a month. ₹10 per day = ₹300 (~$5).
Bought todayq.com.
One month of skipping samosas for a domain name.
"Todayq" = Today's Quotes. Built it using free website builders. When the 30-day trial expires, new email, new trial, rebuild everything from scratch. Did this every month from bed.
Business model: Share motivational content, drop Amazon affiliate links for self-help books. Made ₹5,000. Not bad for a bedridden 16-year-old.
Yes, it was that basic. Built with free website builders, rebuilt every 30 days.
THE DISASTER
Reinvested everything into growing the site. Then couldn't renew after the 30-day trial expired (this time no new email trick worked). Site got deleted.
Cost to restore: ₹12,500
Money I had: ₹5,000
Time to save ₹12,500 on pocket money: 3.5 years
I gave up.
THE FRIEND WHO CHANGED EVERYTHING
Childhood friend visited me at home. Saw me depressed (our houses were right across from each other). His exact words (were in punjabi, can't translate the curses), cleaned up version: "Todayq will be massive. You're mental enough to make it work."
That crude confidence hit different.
THE RANDOM PIVOT
While doom-scrolling, discovered crypto Twitter.
2017 - crypto was exploding in India mid Nov/Dec. New exchanges launching weekly - Koinex, Zebpay, Unocoin.
Bitcoin went from ₹2 lakhs to ₹14 lakhs.
Everyone was trading. Everyone was losing money. Nobody knew what they were doing.
Had nothing to do with quotes - just saw people desperate for guidance.
Rebuilt Todayq from scratch. This time as "Todayq - Connecting Crypto Traders Worldwide"
Dropped the quotes. Kept the domain.
THE TIMELINE
Age 16: Accident → Bedrest at home → Todayq
Age 18: Dropped out of 12th standard (school was pointless when I was making money)
Age 19: Hit ₹10,00,000 (~$11K) revenue and kept growing
Age 22: Launched Koinpr
Age 24: Launched Pay3
THE TODAYQ ECOSYSTEM
TODAYQ (2017) - The parent company that started from my bedroom
Koinpr (2022) - Real metrics for Web3 marketing
Pay3 (2025) - Simple crypto payments
What started as motivational quotes is now a full Web3 infrastructure company.
THE REAL STORY
Middle-class family from Jalandhar, Punjab. Dad worked at Hindustan Unilever Limited as a sales officer. Mom managed the house. Sister did electronics engineering.
They watched their son:
- Win Olympiads then question the entire education system at 16
- Lose friends because he talked tech while they talked about whatever teenagers talk about
- Start a business from his bedroom with pocket money
- Drop out in 12th because "why study traditionally when I'm already earning?"
- Lose everything and rebuild without complaining
From ₹10/day pocket money to building the Todayq ecosystem.
Not because I'm special. Because I had no other option.
Accident happened. Couldn't walk. So I built.
School was slow. So I left.
Had no money. So I used free trials.
Still building. Still using free trials when needed.
Now in Gurugram/Dubai, but the hustle started in a bedroom.
Started with motivational quotes.
Now building the infrastructure Web3 needs.
Same energy, bigger problems.